Things to Do in Sydney: Harbour Icons & Beach Days

Most trips start on the water. Take a guided tour inside the Sydney Opera House, walk or climb the Sydney Harbour Bridge, and ride a Circular Quay ferry for the view people come for. Sydney Tower Eye adds the aerial version of the same skyline, and the Royal Botanic Garden puts you back at sea level with the Opera House in frame.

Bondi is the famous one, and the 6 km cliff walk from Bondi to Coogee is the reason to go early. Manly sits 30 minutes away by ferry with calmer surf and a long promenade. For quieter sand, Bronte and Tamarama are a short bus ride from Bondi, and the harbour beaches at Balmoral and Shelly suit swimming more than surfing.

Sydney Fish Market is the cheapest way to eat well, and the new Blackwattle Bay site has more room to sit. Chinatown covers yum cha at Marigold and The Eight, with Mr Wong as the dressed-up version. Surry Hills holds the densest run of restaurants and wine bars, while Quay, Bennelong and Aria handle the harbour-view dinners. Book the big names 4 to 8 weeks out.

The Queen Victoria Building and Westfield Sydney sit within a few blocks of each other in the CBD, and Broadway Shopping Centre covers the Ultimo side. Afternoons work well in the Royal Botanic Garden or Hyde Park. After dark, Sydney runs on small bars rather than big clubs: Darlinghurst, Surry Hills and Newtown have the highest concentration, plus live music at the Enmore Theatre.

Sydney's oldest quarter sits directly under the Harbour Bridge, with sandstone laneways, some of the city's oldest pubs and a weekend market. Staying here puts the Opera House, the ferry wharves and Central Station trains within a short walk, which is why it suits first visits and stays of two or three days. Pancakes on the Rocks handles the late-night end of things.

Two adjoining suburbs behind Central Station that carry most of Sydney's dining reputation. Crown Street runs through Surry Hills with one-off boutiques, vintage stores and small restaurants that change menus with the season. Darlinghurst sits closer to the CBD and stays open later, with pubs, clubs and the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras each summer.

King Street in Newtown runs for more than a kilometre of bookshops, record stores, cheap eats and bars, backed by Victorian terraces and a lot of street art. It is a student and backpacker area, so prices drop and venues stay open. The Enmore Theatre is the anchor for live music, and the light rail and trains reach the CBD in about 15 minutes.

Bondi trades harbour views for surf, a long stretch of sand and a café strip that fills from early morning. The coastal walk south to Coogee passes Tamarama, Bronte and Clovelly, all swimmable. Buses from the CBD take 30 to 40 minutes, or take the train to Bondi Junction and change, so factor in the travel time if you plan to sightsee daily.

We recommend: harbour icons plus one beach day

We recommend: a guided tour inside the Opera House

We recommend: city, coast and the Inner West

We recommend: the Blue Mountains and Manly

The most popular day trip from Sydney, about 90 km west. Direct trains run hourly from Central to Katoomba in roughly 2 hours, which puts you a short walk from Echo Point and the Three Sisters. Scenic World handles the cable car and railway down into the Jamison Valley.

A 30-minute ferry from Circular Quay, and the ride is half the appeal. Manly has ocean surf on one side, a harbour beach on the other, and the Corso between them. The walk to Shelly Beach and North Head takes about an hour return.

Australia's oldest wine region sits about 2 hours north by road, with more than 100 cellar doors concentrated around Pokolbin. Semillon and shiraz are what the valley is known for. Book a driver or a tour, since tastings and a 2-hour drive home do not mix.

The world's second-oldest national park, an hour south of the city and reachable by train to Loftus or Otford. The Coast Track runs 26 km along the clifftops, but the Figure Eight Pools and Wattamolla beach make an easy half-day instead.

An hour and a half up the coast, past a string of surf beaches, to the peninsula where Home and Away is filmed. The climb to Barrenjoey Lighthouse takes about 30 minutes and looks back over Pittwater and the ocean at once.

Ninety minutes south, with the Grand Pacific Drive along the way and the Sea Cliff Bridge curving out over the water. Wollongong has city beaches without the Sydney crowds, plus the Nan Tien Temple on the approach.